ספר
to count
also: recount, relate fuller range ↓
Full lexicon entry — Brown-Driver-Briggs (BDB)
From Brown-Driver-Briggs (BDB)
Where this word appears
See every Absolute-state word in the Hebrew Bible →
Grammar key — what these labels mean
Part of speech
- Noun
- A naming word — a person, place, thing, or idea.
- Verb
- An action or state-of-being word.
Noun type
- Common
- A common noun — a general class of person, place, or thing (“king,” “city,” “water”), not a specific name.
Stem
- Piel
- An intensive or resultative active stem. Here: ‘recount something’
- Niphal
- Usually the simple passive or reflexive of the Qal (“he was written”).
- Qal
- The basic, simple active stem — the plain form of the verb (“he wrote”). Here: ‘count things’
- Pual
- The passive counterpart of the Piel. Here: ‘be recounted’
Form
- Sequential Imperfect
- An imperfect with prefixed waw — the standard past-narrative form (waw-consecutive imperfect).
- Imperfect
- An incomplete, ongoing, or future action (“he will / would write”).
- Cohortative
- A first-person volitional form expressing wish or resolve (“let me / let us write”).
- Infinitive Construct
- A bound verbal noun, frequently with prepositions (“to write / in writing”).
- Perfect
- A completed action or state — Hebrew marks aspect (completeness) more than strict tense (“he wrote”).
- Imperative
- A direct command (“write!”).
- Participle Active
- A verbal adjective expressing ongoing or characteristic action (“writing / one who writes”).
- Sequential Perfect
- A perfect with prefixed waw continuing a preceding imperfect or command (waw-consecutive perfect).
- Jussive
- A third- or second-person volitional form expressing wish or command (“let him write”).
State
- Absolute
- The independent form of a noun, not bound to a following word.
- Construct
- A noun bound to a following noun in a possessive / “of” relationship (the construct chain).
Person
- 3rd Person
- The one spoken about (“he / she / it / they”).
- 1st Person
- The speaker (“I / we”).
- 2nd Person
- The one addressed (“you”).
Gender
- Masculine
- Grammatically masculine.
- Common
- Either gender — not distinguished for this form.
- Feminine
- Grammatically feminine.
Number
- Singular
- One.
- Plural
- More than one (in Hebrew, generally three or more).
2 verses where H5608 appears in the Absolute state in the Book of Ezra. Filtered view — show all forms. Click any verse to open its interlinear word-by-word view. Verse text shown in the World English Bible for context — . Each verse’s Hebrew form is shown with its reference; the English is not keyword-highlighted, since the data carries no word-level English alignment. Use “Compare translations” on any verse to read it across multiple English versions. This concordance covers the Hebrew Bible; Septuagint (Greek Old Testament) occurrences are not indexed here.
Ezra
- Ezra 7:6 סֹפֵ֤ר n c ms this Ezra went up from Babylon: and he was a ready scribe in the law of Moses, which Yahweh, the God of Israel, had given; and the king granted him all his request, according to the hand of Yahweh his God on him.
- Ezra 7:11 הַ/סֹּפֵ֑ר סֹפֵ֞ר ptcl def.art + n c ms n c ms cs Now this is the copy of the letter that the king Artaxerxes gave to Ezra the priest, the scribe, even the scribe of the words of the commandments of Yahweh, and of his statutes to Israel:
About this entry
At a glance — auto-summarized from this page’s data, not written by a person. Every figure links to its source below. This summary describes the numbers; it doesn’t interpret them.
“to count” is the headline sense of the Hebrew word ספר (çâphar). First canonically at Genesis 15:5, it enters the text early. The Hebrew Bible uses it across 154 verses — common. Not a single-sense word: its full sense range also takes in “recount” and “relate”. It shares a root with מספר, ספיר and ספר. See the sense tree, 154-verse concordance, and the renderings breakdown below.
Gloss history
Strong's 1890 vs modern scholarship
About this word
Strong's H5608 catalogs a Hebrew word from the Hebrew Old Testament.
These counts are not copied from any lexicon or concordance. They are computed here, from the morphology-tagged Hebrew Old Testament. What Lemma adds →
- 154
- distinct verses
- The word appears in 154 distinct verses.
- 24 / 39
- OT books
- The word appears in 24 of 39 Old Testament books.
- #285
- by frequency
- Top 500 most frequent Hebrew words (rank 285 of 8,640 Hebrew words by occurrence).
View all 154 occurrences in the concordance →
By section of the Old Testament
By traditional corpus
Conventional, traditional groupings — biblical authorship is debated, so this is a traditional corpus grouping, not an authorship claim. Each share is this word’s portion of its verses in that division of the Hebrew canon. Each figure is a share of the word’s 154 distinct verses.
- Writings (Ketuvim) 75 verses · 49%
- Prophets (Nevi'im) 56 verses · 36%
- Torah (Pentateuch) 23 verses · 15%
How translations render this word
Counts come from each version’s own published word-to-Strong’s tagging or interlinear alignment — an approximate guide to how each version renders this word, not a word-level alignment the data otherwise carries. Because each total is that version’s own tagged count, the per-version totals vary from one another and need not match the appearance or distinct-verse counts above. These counts may also differ from a printed concordance because Lemma counts each distinctly tagged rendering and does not collapse phrase taggings into a single head-word total. This is a fixed set of word-tagged versions (KJV, ASV, BSB, ULT) and does not change with the reading translation you choose elsewhere. Each version’s license is shown beside its name below (and on Sources).
BDB lists this Strong’s number as 2 distinct words (homographs). Each count above pools all of them and is not split by sense — see the Senses section below. A low-frequency rendering may belong to a different one of those words, not the primary meaning.
- King James Version†: Scribe 38×, Told 12×, Declare 10×
- American Standard Version†: Scribe 37×, Told 7×, Declare 5×
- Berean Standard Bible†: Scribe 39×, Told 8×, Count 7×
- unfoldingWord Literal Text†: Scribe 29×, Recount 9×, And 7×
King James Version Public Domain
Renders H5608 across 160† tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus other, less common renderings. Plus 62 renderings that appear only once — usually multi-word phrases or single function words the recovered tagging swept in, not distinct renderings. Not rendered by a distinct English word in 1 further occurrence.
American Standard Version Public Domain
Renders H5608 across 158† tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus other, less common renderings. Plus 67 renderings that appear only once — usually multi-word phrases or single function words the recovered tagging swept in, not distinct renderings.
Berean Standard Bible Public Domain
Renders H5608 across 154† tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus other, less common renderings. Plus 69 renderings that appear only once — usually multi-word phrases or single function words the recovered tagging swept in, not distinct renderings. Not rendered by a distinct English word in 5 further occurrences.
unfoldingWord Literal Text CC BY-SA 4.0
Renders H5608 across 169† tagged occurrences — most commonly:
Plus other, less common renderings. Plus 66 renderings that appear only once — usually multi-word phrases or single function words the recovered tagging swept in, not distinct renderings.
15 senses and sub-senses in the full BDB
Hebrew verbs can shift meaning by stem (binyan): Qal is the basic action, Niphal is often passive or reflexive, Piel often intensifies or makes it factitive, and Hiphil is typically causative. The senses below are grouped under the stem BDB assigns to each. This entry also uses Pual (the passive of Piel).
What do BDB’s symbols mean?
BDB uses these scholarly abbreviations:
| Symbol | Meaning |
|---|---|
| 𝔊 | the Septuagint (the ancient Greek translation, LXX) |
| 𝔙 | the Vulgate (the Latin translation) |
| 𝔖 | the Syriac version (the Peshitta) |
| 𝔗 | the Targum (the Aramaic translation) |
| ψ | the Psalms |
| √ | root (the underlying root or stem) |
| ‖ | parallel passage (a synonymous or contrasted parallel) |
| † | the dagger: every passage where the word occurs is cited |
The 15 senses and sub-senses the full Brown-Driver-Briggs lexicon distinguishes for this word, in lexicon order (not ranked by frequency), with BDB’s own verbatim wording and sub-sense lettering. Shown in Hebrew script with BDB’s own scholarly abbreviations. The condensed entry is in the Lexicon Entry tab. See also the Forms in the corpus table below.
ספר I count, Pi. recount, relate (prob. ancient denom. from סֵפֶר
Qal
- Pf. 3 ms. ס׳ 2 S 24:10, 2 ms. סָפַרְתָּה ψ 56:9, וְסָפַרְתָּ֫ Lv 25:8, etc.; Impf. יִסְפֹּר ψ 87:6 + Jb 38:37 where read prob. יִסְפֹּר (Bu) for MT יְסַפֵּר, יְסְפּוֹר Jb 31:4, וַיִּסְפֹּר 2 Ch 2:1, 16, sf. וַיִּסְפְּרֵם Ezr 1:8; 2 ms. תִּסְפֹּר Jb 39:2, תִּסְפּוֹר 14:16, תִּסְפָּר־ Dt 16:9, etc.; Imv. ms. סְפֹר Gn 15:5; mpl. סִפְרוּ 1 Ch 21:2 ψ 48:13; Inf. cstr. לִסְפֹּר Gn 15:5 + 2 times; Pt. סֹפֵר Is 33:18(×2) (v. also סֹפֵר n. infr.);— e.g. 2 Samuel 24:10
- 1. count things, to learn their number, c. acc., Gn 15:5(×2) (J) 2 S 24:10 + 10 times (+ acc. cogn. 2 Ch 2:16); acc. om. Gn 41:49 (E); + ל (dat. comm. vel eth.), Lv 15:13, 28; 23:15; 25:8 (all PH), Dt 16:9; Ez 44:26; Ezr 1:8 ψ 87:6 Is 33:18 (abs.), v 18 (but text suspicious, conjj. in Du CheHpt). e.g. Genesis 15:5
- 2. number = take account of, carefully observe and consider, reckon: צְעָדַי תִּסְפּוֹר Jb 14:16 of my steps thou takest account, so 31:4; v. also 38:37 (cf. supr.); נֹדִי סָפַרְתָּה ψ 56:9 my wandering hast thou reckoned, taken into account (Che reads סִפַּרְתִּי after 𝔊). e.g. Job 14:16
Niphal
- Impf. 3 ms. יִסָּפֵר Ho 2:1 + 4 times; 3 mpl. יִסָּֽפְרוּ 1 K 8:5; 2 Ch 5:6, וַיִּסָּֽפְרוּ 1 Ch 23:3;— be counted, numbered, usually c. neg., to indicate multitude, לֹא יִסּ׳ מֵרֹב Gn 16:10 (J) it is not to be counted, for multitude, so 32:13 (J), 1 K 3:8 (‖ לֹא יִסָּנֶה), 8:5 (+ id.), 2 Ch 5:6 (+ id.); cf. Ho 2:1 (+ לֹא־יִמַּד), Je 33:22 (‖ לֹא יִמַּד); positively, only וַיִּסָּֽפְרוּ הַלְּוִיִּם 1 Ch 23:3. e.g. Hosea 2:1
Piel
- Pf. 1 s. סִפַּ֫רְתִּי ψ 119:26, סִפַּ֑רְתִּי v 13; 3 pl. סִפְּרוּ Ju 6:13 + 3 times; Impf. 3 ms. יְסַפֵּר Jb 38:37 +, 1 s. אֲסַפֵּר ψ 22:18 +; cohort. אֲסַפֵּ֑רָה Jb 15:17; 1 pl. וַנְּסַפֶּר־ Ex 10:2, etc.; Imv. סַפֵּר Is 43:26, etc.; Inf. cstr. (לְ)סַפֵּר ψ 50:16 + 5 times; Pt. מְסַפֵּר Ju 7:13; 2 K 8:5; pl. מְסַפְּרִים ψ 19:2; 78:4;—recount, rehearse, declare: e.g. Psalms 119:26
- 1. recount something (acc.), to (לְ pers.) Ju 6:13; 7:13; Gn 24:66 (J), 1 S 11:5 + 18 times (of rehearsing glorious deeds of י׳ ψ 44:2; 73:28; 78:3, 4; 79:13); c. acc. + בְּ loc. Ez 12:16, elsewhere of rehearsing name or praise of י׳ Ex 9:16 (J) ψ 9:15; 96:3 = 1 Ch 16:24, ψ 102:22 Je 51:10; c. acc. alone ψ 9:2; 19:2; 119:13 (+ בְּ instr.), 145:6 + 8 times ψψ + Is 43:21, all of rehearsing praise of י׳; cf. צְמוּ מִסַּפֵּר ψ 40:6 they are too great to rehearse, c. acc. also Je 23:28, 32; Jb 15:17; 28:27 ψ 119:26; acc. om. Is 43:26, c. לְ pers. Gn 40:8 (E) + 6 times, c. אֶל־ pers. Gn 37:10 (E), c. בְּאָזְנֵי Ex 10:2; c. בְּמוֹ (q.v.) ψ 73:15; c. אֶל־ concerning ψ 2:7, cf. 69:27 (𝔊 𝔖 Ew Ol Gr Bi Che Bae add; in that case read יֹסִ֑פּוּ); c. עַל־ concerning, + לְ pers. Jo 1:3. e.g. Judges 6:13
- 2. appar., in weakened sense, talk ψ 59:13, 64:6 (c. ל concerning), 73:15 (c. כְּמוֹ). e.g. Psalms 59:13
- 3. count exactly, accurately, אֲסַפֵּר כָּל־עַצְמוֹתָ֑י ψ 22:18 I can count exactly all my bones (in wasted body).—ψ 40:6 v. sub 1, Jb 38:37 read יִסְפִּר. e.g. Psalms 22:18
Pual
- be recounted, related, rehearsed: Pf. 3 ms. סֻפַּר לְ Is 52:15; Impf. 3 ms. יְסֻפַּר לְ Jb 37:20 (cl. as subj.), + לְ concerning ψ 22:31; c. בְּ loc. 88:12; abs. יְסֻפָּ֑ר Hb 1:5. e.g. Isaiah 52:15
ספר II
- 1.
- a. enumerator muster-cfier, in description of leaders of Isr. משְׁבִים בְּשֵׁבֶט ס׳ Ju 5:14. e.g. Judges 5:14
- b. king’s official = secretary 2 S 8:17 = 20:25 = 1 Ch 18:16; 2 K 18:18, 37 = Is 36:3, 22; Sol. has two 1 K 4:3 (in all these disting. from מַזְכִּיר); also 2 K 19:2 = Is 37:2; Je 36:10, 12, cf. לִשְׁכַּת הַסּ׳ v 12, 20, 21, בֵּית הַסּ׳ 37:15, 20; acting as treasurer and paymaster 2 K 12:11 = 2 Ch 24:11,—cf. Zadok Ne 13:13;—2 K 22:3, 8, 9, 10, 12 = 2 Ch 34:15, 18, 20; 1 Ch 24:6 (Levite); הַסּ׳ שַׂר הַצָּבָא 2 K 25:19 = Je 52:25 (si vera l. in K) implies military authority (but שַׂר הַצּ׳ perhaps gloss GFM Ju 5:14); Ew Sta al. read (as Je) scribe of general. e.g. 2 Samuel 8:17
- c. in Persia, secretaries who wrote out (king’s) decrees, according to Est 3:12; 8:9. e.g. Esther 3:12
- d. 2 Ch 26:11 uses ס׳ for muster-officer; 1 Ch 2:55 mentions families of סוֹפְרִים; 2 Ch 34:13 knows ס׳ as Levites; ס׳ 1 Ch 27:32 = man of learning. e.g. 2 Chronicles 26:11
- 2. professional class of learned men, ‘scribes,’ able to read and write Je 36:26, 32; with writing implements, עֵט ס׳ מָהִיר ψ 45:2, קֶסֶת הַסּ׳ Ez 9:2, 3, תַּעַר הַסּ׳ Je 36:23; especially learned in the law, and assuming to issue its precepts, עֵט שֶׁקֶר סֹפְרִים 8:8. e.g. Jeremiah 36:26
- 3. specif. of Ezra, at once priest (כֹּהֵן) and learned in the law (סֹפֵר), Ezr 7:11, ס׳ דִּבְרֵי מִצְוֹת י׳ v 11 [cf. Aramaic v 12, 21], ס׳ מָהִיר בְּתוֹרַת משֶׁה v 6; Ne 8:1, 4, 9, 13; 12:26, 36. e.g. Ezra 7:11
Senses from the full Brown-Driver-Briggs lexicon (Brown, Driver, Briggs; Oxford 1906 — public domain), digitized via Sefaria, supplemented by the OpenScriptures HebrewLexicon (CC BY 4.0). Full attribution on Sources.
Word origin
I. vb. count, Pi. recount, relate (prob. ancient denom. from סֵפֶר; NH = BH; Ethiopic ሰፈረ; measure Di404);—
I. n.m. ψ 45:2 enumerator, muster-officer, secretary, scribe (proposes pt. of סָפַר; Aramaic סַפְרָא, ܣܳܦܪܳܐ id., cf. ܣܦܺܝܪ doctus, literatus; Old Aramaic ספרא id., Lzb330 Cook85; Ph. ספר Lzb330);—abs. סֹפֵר Ju 5:14 +, סוֹפֵר 2 S 8:17 +; cstr. סֹפֵר 2 K 12:11 + 2 times, + Je 52:25 (Gie GFM read הַסּ׳ as ‖ 2 K 25:19); pl. סֹפְרִים 1 K 4:3; Je 8:8, סוֹ׳ 1 Ch 2:55; 2 Ch 34:13; cstr. סֹפְרֵי Est 3:12; 8:9;—
— Brown-Driver-Briggs (Oxford 1906, public domain), digitized via Sefaria, supplemented by the OpenScriptures HebrewLexicon (CC BY 4.0). See Sources.
Origin: a primitive root
Jastrow Dictionary
A second Hebrew/Aramaic lexicon for comparison, covering Aramaic and post-biblical (Talmudic, Targumic, Midrashic) usage that the biblical-Hebrew BDB does not. Matched by lemma rather than by Strong’s number, so a lemma may carry more than one Jastrow headword (shown separately below), and the entries cover usage well beyond the Bible.
סָפַר
- (b. h.) [to cut; to mark,]
- 1. to write; to count. Y. Kil. VII, end, 31ᵃ יִסְפּוֹר he (who is in possession of property bought from an oppressor, v. אַנָּס) must count (settle with the original owner according to rules, v. גוֹרְדְּיָינִי), opp. יחזיר he must return the property; ib. יִסְפֹּר (or יְסַפֵּר Pi.). Kidd. 30ᵃ שהיו סוֹפְרִים, v. סוֹפֵר. Nidd. 69ᵃ סוֹפַרְתָּן למנין וכ׳ she counts them in with the requisite number of seven days. Ib. 31ᵃ יושב וסוֹפֵר וכ׳ sits and records the copulations &c. Men. 65ᵇ, v. סְפִירָה; a. v. fr.—[Sifré Deut. 33 סופרה; read: סופנה, v. סָפַן.]—Part. pass. סָפוּר, q. v.
- 2. to cut, shear, v. infra.
- to be counted. Bekh. 45ᵃ שנִסְפֶּרֶת ע"ג היד when the additional finger is counted (is in a line) with the others; Yalk. Sam. 156.
- 1. to cut, shear. Sot. 49ᵇ, a. fr. מְסַפֵּר קומי, v. קוֹמִי I. Ib. התירו (לו)לסַפֵּר וכ׳ they allowed him to cut his hair in gentile fashion, because of his connections with royalty. Sifra Aḥăré, Par. 9, ch. XIII תִּסְפּוֹר, v. קוֹמִי I. Tosef. Bets. III, 19 אין מְסַפְּרִין הירק וכ׳ you must not no trim vegetables with the clipper (on the Holy Day) &c.; a. fr.
- 2. to tell, speak, count. Y. Kil. l. c., v. supra. Gen. R. s. 78 (ref. to אברם in place of אברהם, Neh. IX, 7) סיפור הוא מְסַפֵּר וכ׳ he states a historical fact, saying &c. Y. Ber. IX, beg. 12ᵈ אם בא אדם לסַפֵּר וכ׳ if one were to undertake to count the mighty deeds of the Lord, he would be ruined (ref. to Job XXXVII, 20); המספר בשבחו וכ׳ he who tells the praise of the Lord more than is becoming. Ib. מכאן … אסור לסַפֵּר וכ׳ beyond that (which has been adopted in ritual prayers) one must not tell &c. Arakh. 16ᵃ לעולם אל יְסַפֵּר אדם בטובתו וכ׳ man should not count up his neighbor’s good qualities, for he may be induced to speak of his shortcomings; B. Bath. 164ᵇ. Sot. 42ᵃ מְספְּרֵי לשון הרע gossipers. Snh. 38ᵇ בלשון ארמי סי׳ spoke Aramæan; a. v. fr.—Ib. 52ᵇ סי׳ הימנו if he (the scholar) holds conversation with him. e.g. Nehemiah 9:7
- to have one’s hair cut. Ab. Zar. II, 2 אין מִסְתַּפְּרִין מהן וכ׳ you must not have your hair cut by them in any place (on account of danger to life). Tosef. ib. III, 5 ישראל המִסְתַּפֵּר וכ׳ if an Israelite has his hair cut by a gentile, he must look into the mirror; Ab. Zar. 29ᵃ; a. fr.
סְפַר
- 1. to count, mark, write, v. סַפְרָא I. I.
- 2. to shear, v. infra.
- to cut, shear, shave. Targ. Job I, 20 (Ms. סְפַר Pe.). Targ. Y. Lev. XIII, 33 (not יַסְפֵּר); ib. XIV, 8, sq. (h. text גלח); a. fr.—Lev. R. s. 28, end יתיב ומְסַפֵּר ליה (Haman) sat down and cut his (Mordecai’s) hair; ib. מן דחסל (מן) מְסַפְּרָא ליה when he had done cutting his hair; a. fr.—Part. pass. מְסַפֵּר. Ib. אית בר נש … ולא מ׳ is there a man who putts the royal crown on his head without having his hair cut?; Esth. R. to VI, 10.
סַפָּר
- (preced. wds.)
- 1. (v. סֵפֶר) Bible teacher. Y. Maasr. III, 50ᵈ בית … טובלין לס׳ ולמַשְׁנֶה (not ולא למש׳) school houses for Bible and Talmud make fruits ṭebel for the Bible teacher and for the Talmud teacher. [Perh. to be read: סָפַר Chald. form.]
- 2. hair-cutter, barber. Sabb. I, 2 לא ישב אדם לפני הס׳ וכ׳ one must not sit down for the hair-cutter near Minḥah time beforesaying the prayer. Shebi. VIII, 5; a. e.—Pl. סַפָּרִים, סַפָּרִין. Kel. XIII, 1 זוג של ס׳ the barbers’ scissors. Sabb. 9ᵇ. v. מַעֲפוֹרֶת; a. e.
סַפָּר ²
- , hair-cutter. Targ. II Esth. VI, 12.—Lev. R. s. 28, end; Esth. R. to VI, 10. Lev. R. s. 14, end לית ס׳ דמספר לגרמיה no hair-cutter can cut his own hair (i.e. the female sperm begets the male embryo and vice versa); a. e.
סְפָר
- (סָפַר) [mark, march,] boundary, border district. Yeb. 48ᵇ עיר הסמוכה לס׳ a town near the boundary. Sot. 42ᵃ פעמים מדבר עמו אחת בס׳ וכ׳ the priest addressed the people twice, once on the border line (before entering the enemy’s land) and once before the battle. Tosef. Erub. IV (III), 5 באו … הסמוכות לס׳ if the enemy invades towns near the boundary (of Palestine); Y. ib. IV, 21ᵈ bot.; Bab. ib. 45ᵃ. Ib. ובבל כעיר הסמוכה לס׳ וכ׳ and Babylonia is (as regards the duty of defence) like a town near the boundary, which was interpreted to mean Neharde‘a. Num. R. s. 16 מה ראה לישב לו על הס׳ וכ׳ what reason had he (Amalek) to settle on the border, on the way of the entrance of the Israelites into the land?; a. e.—Pi. סְפָרִים, constr. סִפְרֵי. Y. Ḥall. II, 58ᵇ bot. ס׳ א"י Palestinian districts, ס׳ חוצה לארץ foreign districts (conquered by Israelites).
סְפַר ²
- constr. סְפַר, same; ס׳ יַמָּא sea-district. Targ. O. Gen. XLIX, 13 (h. text חֹף); a. fr.—Pl. סַפְרַיָּא, constr. סַפְרֵי. Targ. Y. ib.—[Targ. Y. Lev. XIII, 45 ספריא, some ed., v. סָפְדָּא.]
סָפֵר
- (preced. wds.) = סְפִירָה, counting. Naz. VII, 3 (54ᵃ) ימי סְפֵרוֹ (comment. סְפֵירוֹ; Y. ed. ספורו) the days which the cured leper has to count (Lev. XIV, 8); Y. ib. 56ᶜ bot. ספירו. e.g. Leviticus 14:8
סֵפֶר
- preced. wds.) letter, document, book. Erub. 15ᵇ; Gitt. 21ᵇ; Succ. 24ᵇ, v. סְפִירָה. Eduy. I, 12, a. fr. ס׳ כתובה the formula of a Kethubah. Y. Sot. IX, end, 24ᶜ משמת ר"א נגנז ס׳ החכמה with the death of R. El. a book of wisdom disappeared; Bab. Sot. 49ᵇ נגנז ס׳ תורה; Tosef. ib. XV, 3 בטל ס׳ תורה. Gen. R. s. 24 סִפְרוֹ של אה"ר the book of Adam (the destinies of humanity); Ex. R. s. 40; Lev. R. s. 15 beg.; a. fr.—Esp. a Biblical book. B. Bath. 15ᵃ ירמיה כתב ספרו וס׳ מלכים וכ׳ Jeremiah wrote his book (the prophecies of Jerem.) and the Book of Kings and the Lamentations. Ib. 14ᵇ משה כתב ספרו וכ׳ Moses wrote his own book, and the Section of Balaam (the chapters on B., Num. XXII, 2—XXIV, 25) and Job; Y. Sot. V, end, 20ᵈ; a. v. fr.—ס׳ תורה (abbrev. ס"ת) (or ס׳ only) the Pentateuch in a scroll. Ab. Zar. 18ᵃ כרכוהו בס"ת וכ׳ they wrapped him up in the scroll &c. Sabb. 116ᵃ ס"ת שנמחק a scroll of the Pentateuch the writing of which is effaced; Yad. III, 5 ס׳ שנמחק; a. v. fr.—Kel. XV, 6, a. e. ס׳ העזרה the Pentateuch kept in the Temple court, v. עֲזָרָה.—ס׳ הוא, ס׳ זעטוטים &c., v. respective determinants.—בֵּית סֵ׳, בֵּית הַסֵּ׳ the school in which the Bible is taught, secondary school, contrad. to בית תלמוד Talmud school. Y. Maasr. III, 50ᵈ, v. סַפָּר 1. Midr. Till. to XCII, 16 שתולים … אלו התינוקות שבבית הס׳ ‘planted in the house of the Lord’ (ib. 14), that means the children at school; a. fr.—Pl. סְפָרִים, constr. סִפְרֵי, סִיפְ׳. Ex. R. s. 41 זריז בכ"ד ס׳ well-versed in the twenty-four books of the Scripture. Sabb. 116ᵃ (ס׳ צדוקים) ס׳ מינים heretical books, v. מִין III. Snh. 68ᵃ שתי … כשני ס׳ תורה וכ׳ my two arms which are like two rolled up scrolls of the Torah, a. v. fr.—Ch. סִפְרָא, constr. סֵפֶר. e.g. Numbers 22:2
סָפַר ²
- = h. סוֹפֵר,
- 1. scribe, writer of documents; copyist. Targ. Jer. XXXVI, 20, sq.; a. fr.—Ab. Zar. 9ᵃ, v. בַּצִּירָא, Ib. 10ᵃ, v. דַּוְקָנָא. Ḥull. 64ᵇ, sq. פסיק להו ס׳ וכ׳ the copyist (of the Scriptures) divides them into two words. Y. Succ. II, 53ᵃ top סַפְרָה דגופתא the scribe of Gufta; a. fr.
- 2. scholar, teacher. Targ. Is. III, 2 (h. text נביא); ib. IX, 14. Targ. O. Gen. XLIX, 10 (h. text מחקק); a. fr.—Gen. R. s. 70, end אית ס׳ דלית וכ׳ is there a teacher that has no pupils?, i.e. I (Laban) learned trickery from you (Jacob).—Esp. Bible teacher. Y. Ḥag. I, 76ᶜ, a. e., v. מַתְנְיָין; a. fr.—ס׳ מתא, v. סוֹפֵר.—Pl. סַפְרַיָּא, סַפְרַיָּיא, סַפְרִין, סַפְרֵי. Targ. Y. I Gen. XLIX, 10. Targ. I Sam. X, 15 (h. text נביאים); a. fr.—Sot. IX, 5 (49ᵃ), v. חַכִּימָא. Midr. Till. to Ps. XCI, 6 מפקיד לס׳ וכ׳ ordered the school teachers to let the children go free (during the summer) from the fourth to the ninth hour of the day; Lam. R. to I, 3; Num. R. s. 12 לסַפְרַיָּה; a. fr.
A Dictionary of the Targumim, the Talmud Babli and Yerushalmi, and the Midrashic Literature (Marcus Jastrow; London, Luzac, 1903) — Public Domain. Digitized via Sefaria. Digitized via Sefaria. Full attribution on Sources.
Forms in the corpus
The 117 distinct written forms H5608 takes in the Hebrew Bible, most frequent first — each parse links to that stem’s occurrences in the concordance. Hebrew forms include their vowel points and cantillation, so a single lemma takes many written forms.
The 60 most common forms are shown; 57 rarer forms follow in the full concordance.
Same root — word family
Other BDB entries built from the same root as H5608, grouped by Strong’s listed origin. These share a root / origin per the lexicon — not necessarily a shared meaning. Each links to that word’s own entry.
Derived from this word
- מספר miçpâr H4557 number
- ספיר çappîyr H5601 sapphire
- ספר çᵉphar H5609 book
- ספר çᵉphâr H5610 census
- ספר çêpher H5612 book
- ספרה çᵉphôrâh H5615 number
Proper names from this root
People and places named from this root — a name, not an additional meaning of the word.
Compare all same-root words → Showing 4 of 8 — not the complete family. 1 of the same-root words is a proper name (a person or place). They share a root, not necessarily a meaning.
Septuagint verse parallels
This word appears in 133 verses that also exist in the Greek Old Testament (Septuagint), out of the 154 Hebrew verses it occurs in. You can read those verses in Greek by switching the Old Testament edition to the Septuagint.
Read these verses in the Septuagint
- Genesis 15:5
- Exodus 9:16
- Leviticus 15:13
- Numbers 13:27
- Deuteronomy 16:9
- Joshua 2:23
- Judges 5:14
- 1 Samuel 11:5
- 2 Samuel 8:17
- 1 Kings 3:8
- 2 Kings 8:4
- 1 Chronicles 2:55
This is a verse-level parallel only — the same verses exist in both the Hebrew and Greek Old Testaments. No word-level Hebrew↔Greek correspondence is claimed: the data carries no such alignment, so no Greek word is shown as this Hebrew word’s translation. Coverage is not total — the Septuagint omits the deuterocanon and renumbers the Psalms, so some Hebrew verses have no direct Greek parallel.
